Post War Prodigy
by Extreme Groping
Summary: What would happen if another golden boy was discovered by accident? To what lengths would the wizarding world go to to make him their own? And what does The family of Avalon have to do with it all? Will get raunchy later on.
1. Default Chapter

(Hi! I'm the fiance of the author Suzu no Miko. Apparently a lot of you have heard of her...  
_:Jealous:  
_I'm not quite so good at writing the smut everyone seems to be obsessed with, and prefer to have more of an involved PLOT in my stories. There may be some smut later, but probably not the graphic 'dripping bodily fluids count as a good discriptor' stuff she likes to write.

:_Gets bricked:_

HEY! Brat... FIANCE ABUSE! SHE HIT ME! YOU ALL SAW IT, TOO!  
Anyways... on with the story. Please review for me?)

* * *

Josh Lucas is not your average fourteen year old American boy. He looks average enough. He is 5'9"; he has dark brown hair and eyes, and is of average build. He does what every other fourteen year old boy does; he hangs out with his friends and talks about girls, goes shopping at the mall, and does his homework whether he wants to or not. His parents would always see to that. His mother Kay was especially strict about that; his father John was more or less quiet about things, but he was able to convey his feelings about many things much more subtly than Kay. Well, at least Josh did do those things. His life changed during a trip to England.

Early in the summer, Josh and his parents went to Europe to find out more about their family history. They had no idea that learning about their ancestry would have such a profound impact on Josh's future. It was a hot day in the middle of July when strange things happened to Josh that would change his life forever.

They had left Stonehenge, and were driving back to London. Josh was paying little attention to what had been happening because he was engrossed in a rather interesting book about the theories of the purposes of Stonehenge. Suddenly his mother screamed, "Watch out!" and he felt the car lurch. He looked up and saw that a sheep had jumped into the road and John had to swerve to avoid killing the sheep; sending the car careening straight to a river.

Josh threw his arms forward to brace himself for the immersion of the car into the river. This is when time seemed to slow down exponentially. Josh felt his fingers get very cold, and saw the river cover with frost. The ice was spreading across the river surface like frost on glass as the car was getting closer. The river was becoming a brighter white as the ice was getting thicker. The river had frozen solid enough to allow the car to slide across the surface. The car started sliding sideways as we traversed the icy river. Once we hit the opposite bank, the inertia caused the car to roll. Josh was starting to feel sick as he lost all sense of which way was up, and he could no longer tell what direction they were headed.

Finally, the car had stopped. The boy's mother was crying, and his father was silent; but he was looking around confusedly. He was bleeding from a gash across his forehead. They asked Josh if he was alright, and he checked himself over. His left arm was at an odd angle, it was swollen, and it was violent shades of dark purple and black. His fingers felt numb. But before he could answer, a succession of loud cracking noises penetrated the air.

Josh looked out the window and saw some people in very odd clothing appearing out of nowhere. A tall sandy haired man wearing green robes walked up to the car.

"Is everyone alright?" the man asked. The scene hadn't changed. Kay was still in hysterics, and John was still silent.  
"No," Josh called through the window. "We need help! I don't think we can get out!" The man called for some of the others and then pulled out a thin rod of wood and pointed it at us.

Josh looked at the thin rod and spoke again, "How in the world do you expect to help us get out of this car with a stick?" The man replied, "Stick! This is my wand, boy! Now, just sit back and watch how I can help you." He said something under his breath, and the door began to vibrate with a low hum. Then, it was as though some unseen force had yanked the door off its hinges and thrown it to the ground fifteen feet away. The same thing happened to the doors that had trapped John and Kay. Josh was getting very confused. Confused and a little scared. He was not quite sure who these people were, but he trusted them for a reason that he could not fathom.

He looked toward the front of the car, and a young woman with bushy brown hair, who was about nineteen years old, was tending to Kay. Josh saw a shimmer of silver light jet from the tip of her wand and it seemed to help her calm down. Another woman who was much older than the brunette was pointing her wand at the cut in John's forehead. The orange glow was sealing the cut flawlessly.

"Who are you people, and how are you doing this?" Josh inquired.

The man looked at Josh quizzically, and then explained, "My name is Lyesco Miller, and I'm a member of the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad…" "The What!" Josh exclaimed.

"The Accidental Magic Reversal Squad. We became aware of the out-of-control magic being used in this area, and were dispatched by the Ministry of Magic so we could put things right before anyone notices that there is a frozen river in the middle of July," Lyesco explained. Then he pointed back to the river and there were seven witches and wizards of varying ages and in random colors of robes; all pointing their wands at the river. Beams of red light were arcing from the tips of the wands and shining on the ice; melting the river. Josh's arm was throbbing; He was starting to feel dizzy. His mind was swimming in the flood of thoughts created by what he was seeing.

Josh looked at Lyesco with an expression of mild amusement mixed with excruciating pain as his arm started to throb with pain. "Magic? And how did this happen, who cast this 'magic'?" The man looked at Josh with a mixed expression of confusion and mild amusement, "You did." "What? How?" Josh asked.

"Didn't you know? Okay, walk with me and I'll explain." He motioned for him to follow and began to walk along the river side. "Like I said, my name is Lyesco. What is your name?" "Josh" he answered.

"Okay Josh, there are basically two worlds that exist on this planet. I'm not talking about ethnicity, language or cultures… I'm talking about the world where people who have the gift of magic and those that don't exist. Sometimes, there are wizards born into a muggle family-"

"Wait… Muggle? What's that?"

"Well, Muggle is the word used to describe those who do not have the gift of magic. Anyway, this works two ways. Just as wizards can be born into muggle families where no one has ever heard of magic, in wizard families sometimes a child is born that cannot use magic. These people are called Squibs. Understand so far, Josh?"

"I think so… But why do you keep repeating my name?"

"It's just a little memory trick that I use to remember someone's name. If you use someone's name at least three times in your first conversation with them, then chances are you'll remember their name for the next time you meet."

"Okay, I guess that makes sense."

"Good. Now, you're a wizard. I think you'll probably be a very powerful wizard too, seeing how you just froze an entire river, apparently without a wand. You should be proud by the way, you've just saved your parent's lives" Lyesco explained. By the time this conversation had ended, they had looped around and were now standing back at the crash site.

"What do you mean I'm a wizard! Are you daft, man!" Josh exclaimed. Which in turn caused Kay to tell him to 'watch his tone of voice' while she herself sounded as though she were either very drunk, or very relaxed.

Lyesco looked at the bushy-haired brunette who was tending to Kay and said, "Hermione, will you go to Hogwarts and get Dumbledore, I feel he may want to meet this young man" "But no one can apparate into Hogwarts grounds. It says so in Hogwarts a History." Hermione protested.

Lyesco groaned, "I know that… everyone does. Go to Hogsmeade, then go to Hogwarts and get Dumbledore." Hermione blushed, and vanished with a loud crack.

"I wasn't planning on this; I had assumed it was just another case of uncontrolled underage magic… but to have someone who doesn't even know that he's a wizard…" Stammered Lyesco, "Well, uh… I'm sorry, but what's your surname?"

"My name is Josh Lucas"

"Well, Mr. Lucas…" Lyesco began.

"That's Mr. Lucas" Josh interrupted pointing at his father. "I'm Josh"

Lyesco smiled. "Alright, Josh, I'm not sure if I should be the one to explain this to you, so I'll leave that to Dumbledore. What I need to do is help you get fixed up," stated Lyesco pointing at the boy's arm. Then he turned to one of his colleagues. A young blonde man who was about twenty-three years old, and said, "Gregory, I need you to go to St. Mungo's and get and emergency medical portkey authorization." The young boy nodded and disappeared with a loud crack.

Lyesco turned back to Josh and said, "We need to get you to the wizarding hospital, St Mungo's. We're authorized to use minor medical spells when dealing with normal injuries, but fixing bones is beyond our capabilities. However, I can cast a pain relieving charm on you if you would like me to."

Josh nodded. He seemed unable to speak as a lump began to develop in his throat. Josh wasn't sure if this was because of the pain or if it was from this new information about being a wizard. Lyesco held his wand over the injured arm and muttered, "Euphas." A pink glob of energy trickled off the wand and dripped onto the wound; instantly causing the pain to subside, and filling Josh's head with an electrical tingle. Immediately afterward, Lyesco spoke another spell, "Immobulous Appendas." And Josh's arm was frozen in place as though he were wearing an entire arm cast and sling. "This way you won't injure your arm any more than you already have." Lyesco explained.

Soon, Gregory reappeared. He was holding a rolled up scroll, and a metal ring about one foot in diameter. "Here's the authorization," Gregory told Lyesco handing over the scroll, then the metal ring, "and something for you to make the portkey from."

Lyesco took the ring, pointed his wand at it, and said, "Portus." The ring began to glow blue and hum for a moment. Lyesco looked at Josh and said, "grab a hold of this and we will be magically transported to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies. Once we get there, one of the healers will fix your arm, and I'm sure one of the counselors will be able to explain our world to you."

"What about my parents?" Josh asked.

Lyesco pointed toward the car, where the wizards who were melting the river were putting the doors back on the car. Josh glanced back at the river and saw that it was flowing freely now. Looking at the wizards again, Josh saw that the wizards were repairing the dents and straightening the wheels, making the car look new again. When the repairs were complete, the wizards made the car float back across the river and onto the side of the road. Then the wizards started to talk to Josh's parents. Lyesco turned back to Josh and started explaining, "Those wizards are going to help your parents back across the river, and then Gregory will escort them to St. Mungo's. They should be able to get there in about an hour and a half. On the way Gregory will explain what has been happening and will help them try to make sense of things."

"Okay, lets go, I want to learn more," Josh replied.

"Fine then, just grab the ring and we will depart," Said Lyesco with a hint of a smile.

"Hold on a second," said Josh. Then he ran over to his parents. "I'm going on ahead with Lyesco, I'll see you soon.  
"Bye-bye, have fun!" Kay replied smiling. She was obviously still under the effects of Hermione's spell.

John turned to his son and spoke, "We don't know these people. I'm not sure if I want you to do that."

"Dad… look at my arm," Josh said huffily, showing his father the mangled appendage. Then Josh lied, "it hurts a lot. I want to get this taken care of as soon as possible, and I'm sure you don't want me to suffer any longer than I need to. I trust these people and I think you should too. I know they'll take good care of me, and I want to know more about my being a wizard." Josh hated manipulating his father's emotions like this, but he had to do what was necessary to get what he wanted.

"Okay, well I'm going to get to the hospital as soon as I can. Be careful." John replied grudgingly.

"I will," Josh said then walked back toward Lyesco. On the way Josh thought that the wizards must have explained the general situation, or used a similar mind numbing charm to that which was used on his mother, because his father was acting rather nonchalant about him being a wizard, and going off with strangers in a foreign country.

Lyesco held out the ring so Josh could grab hold. As soon as he did, he felt his hand affix to the ring as though he couldn't let go if he wanted to. It also felt as though a hook had grabbed him just behind the navel and he and Lyesco were spinning through the air. These sensations stopped as soon as they had started, and they slammed down as they landed, and Josh fell to his knees.

They found themselves in a large, ornate room. The floor was marble and the walls had gold inlays. The room was illuminated by candles that were floating mid-air in crystal bubbles. A woman in light green robes hurried toward them and spoke tauntingly, "Hello Lyesco, what'd you do this time?"

Lyesco smiled, "Hi Abby. It isn't me this time. My young friend Josh needs help. It looks like he's broken his arm."

Abby turned to me and spoke in a much gentler tone, "Oh, you poor dear… come with me and we'll get you fixed up in no time."

Abby and Lyesco helped Josh to his feet, and then they led their way to the receptionist witch's desk. A young girl with long dark brown hair was sitting behind the desk. She was chewing gum and tapping her wand to the tips of her fingernails. Each time, she touched her fingernails they changed colors: from solid pink to blue with yellow spots, to green with purple swirls, and so on.

Abby cleared her throat, "Parvati… Parvati… PARVATI!" The young girl looked up from what she had been doing, and huffed.

"Yeah?" then she saw Lyesco and Josh. "Oh, sorry," she blushed. "What can I do for you Lyesco…? Who's your friend? Oh my god, what happened?"

Abby spoke as though she was explaining something to the girl for the millionth time, "Parvati, I know you're new, but you need to process the incoming patients as quickly as you can. How things have happened will be determined by the healers and healing assistants. Now please, just give them the paperwork so we can get this young boy fixed! And clean up your desk!"

Parvati put down her wand, settling on fingernail polish that was scarlet with a wide golden stripe running down the middle. She started rummaging through the stacks of parchment and finally found what the right paperwork. She handed over the parchment and a quill and said, "Just fill this out and someone will be with you shortly." Then Parvati picked up her wand again, conjured a small mirror, and then went to work on her lipstick. Joshua watched; interested in the colors Parvati had chosen to apply.

Abby leaned over, picked up the mirror and said in a stressed undertone, _"Clean up your desk!"_

Abby turned back to us and walked through the waiting room which had a large collection of tables and chairs. There were tables of all sorts and sizes. There were round ones that were barely bigger than a dinner plate, half circular tables that could have been used as a blackjack table in a casino, long rectangular tables that could service twenty-five Sumo Wrestlers on either side, and odd shaped ones that looked like they were designed by pouring water on a wooden surface, then cutting out whatever shape the water took. The tables were surrounded by a similar cornucopia of chairs. There was every kind of chair imaginable from bean-bag chairs to Papasan chairs to chairs that were so large that four full-grown men could have lay down on the seat cushion and taken a nap. Abby handed the parchment and quill to Josh and then engaged Lyesco in a conversation.

Josh looked at the quill in wonder, and thought to himself, "A quill? Are these people stuck in the Stone Age? I've always thought that these were last used by Thomas Edison. Oh-well, maybe most wizards are merely traditionalists." Josh started reading the parchment, and then he started to get worried. "Name, check. Address, fine. Date of birth, that's easy. How were you injured, no problem. Wand (Maker, length, construction material, core), problem. Are you either a vampire or a werewolf, umm…" and the list continued as such asking questions about whether or not the patient had ever been attacked by a number of magical beasts, or if they had been exposed to some illness that Josh had never heard of. Feeling completely confused, and extremely ignorant; Josh spoke up, "Excuse me, but what the hell is this? I don't understand a damn thing about anything on this piece of paper except for the first three lines… okay, four lines. What the hell is a bubotuber; and how should I know if I am allergic to it?"

Lyesco looked extremely pissed at himself, "I'm sorry Josh." Then he turned to Abby, "Josh is a muggleborn, and he recently did his first bit of magic. It happened in a wreck with his parents. He froze an entire river."

"Well," Abby said, "Aren't you the powerful little wizard?"

Josh frowned, "Don't patronize me, Witch"

"Very funny. Now, I'm sorry, I didn't know you weren't aware of our world. Okay, I'll help you with the paperwork." They went over the paperwork together. Since most of the answers were no (he had to answer yes to a question about elemental magic, and to the fact that he is allergic to bee-stings), it didn't take very long to finish up with the scroll. Just as they had finished, a distinguished looking wizard with salt-and-pepper hair and mint green robes came up to them.

"Abby, is this young man ready to get healed?" he asked smiling broadly.

"Yes, sir," then she turned back to Josh and introduced him. "This is Healer Thatcher, he'll fix you up."

Healer Thatcher turned to Josh and said, "Call me Bob. It's nice to meet you…" Bob looked down at the parchment, "…Josh. I have a son with the same name, but he's twenty-five now, so I'm not sure if you'll ever meet him because he's in Asia somewhere doing a study on Muggle Martial Arts. He has the theory that it has derived from a form of ancient spell-dances of early Asian wizards. Oddly enough spell-dances are still being used in some parts of South America and a few remote places in Africa. How's that?"

Josh looked down and his arm was no longer bent in an odd angle, but it was still quite purple. He moved his arm. It was whole again. "You're good. I didn't even realize you were doing anything other than chatting." Josh winced. "It is still a bit tender, though."

"That's to be expected. We can heal broken bones pretty quickly, but bruises are still healed by time." Healer Thatcher withdrew a bit of parchment from his robes and picked up the quill that Josh and Abby had been using earlier and started writing. Suddenly, it occurred to Josh that they had never dipped the quill into any ink, when he began to ponder this, the Healer spoke again, "If you take this to the Apothecary; they will give you some pain-relieving potion to last you for the next three days. You should avoid doing too much with that arm until it isn't so tender. I suggest you find a nice light activity, such as all the reading you'll need to do in order to catch-up."

"Catch-up?" Josh asked as he cocked his head to the side. "Catch-up with what?"

"Well if you go with Abby, she'll take you to the Apothecary and then she can take you to the meeting room. Someone is waiting to meet you." Abby nodded and she led Josh and Lyesco to the Apothecary, where the wizards there all seemed to be a little out of it.

When Josh questioned Abby about this she said, "Don't worry, all of these witches and wizards are absolute geniuses when it comes to potion making… although you are right, they do seem like they are a bit out of it all the time. They just never worried about learning social skills like most other people." When Josh was given the six bottles of potion, he looked at them with interest.

They were all a bright blue, semi translucent, potion; all contained in glass bottles stopped with a cork, and all of the bottles were resting in the bottom of a bag, clinking together. "Um, do you think you could put these in something to keep them from breaking?" The Apothecary staff stared at him and then they started to laugh. One of them picked up a similar bottle and threw it against the wall; where it bounced off and landed on the floor still in one piece. Then the rest of the staff started to do the same thing. Soon there were bottles flying through the air and bouncing off floor and walls. Abby pulled him away and explained about unbreakable charms on the bottles as she led them to the meeting room.

When they reached the door with the appropriate sign on it; Abby opened the door… "Merlin?" Josh looked in wonder at the tall man with the long beard, half-moon spectacles, and periwinkle-blue robes.

"Actually," the old man chuckled, and then stood up to greet the new arrivals. Josh noted that he was very tall. "My name is Albus Dumbledore. How do you do?" Dumbledore offered Josh his hand, and after they shook, he motioned for them to sit. Josh looked around as he sat, Lyesco sat next to him, and Hermione was there too. She was sitting at the end of the table; she had a pile of books next to her in a nice neat stack, perfectly arranged from the largest book on the bottom to the smallest book on top. It seems as though Hermione took painstaking measures to perfect her stack of books.

"Better, now that my arm is no longer bending where it isn't supposed to."

Dumbledore smiled, "Yes, I imagine that one would feel better after getting that straightened out." Dumbledore brought his fingertips together and surveyed Josh over the tips of them. The look was calculating, and calm. He drew his wand, and conjured a tea tray, complete with scones and cream. Dumbledore continued, "Now I understand that you have just become aware of your powers, and I know that this must be a lot to take in at this time, but there is more. It is necessary for you to learn about your magic, and more importantly how to control it. I am the headmaster of a wizarding school called Hogwarts, and I would like to officially invite you to become a student pending Ministry approval. I would also like to officially invite you to become a student even if the Ministry doesn't approve." This forced a smile to spread across Josh's face, and Dumbledore returned the smile.

"But if you need their permission, how would you teach me if they don't approve?" Josh inquired.

"The Ministry of Magic's permission is simply a formality, they have no real power at Hogwarts, I simply let them believe that what they say matters in my school." Dumbledore smiled again apparently pleased with himself.

Josh feigned a smile, but in reality he had just lost some respect for this man.

_(This man isn't a rebel, he's a con-man who has power through trickery and lies. I think I'll go to this school and see what kind of ruckus I can create.)_

Before Josh could speak though, a burst of fire appeared above the table and a rolled up piece of parchment and a red and gold feather dropped on the table. Dumbledore picked up the parchment; and Josh snatched the feather. The feather was still warm, but completely un-singed. The old wizard looked at him and said, "Well, the Ministry has given you temporary permission. But they want to meet with you. This is an unusual situation because most students start their tutelage at the age of eleven." "Sounds good, where do we begin? What do I need to get for this school?"

"Well I have made special arrangements for you. The best way I can think of to help you to catch up with other students your own age is to have Hermione tutor you. She is a very bright witch, and she is doing this as a personal favor to me. I pray that you will pay attention to her?" He looked at Josh expectantly.

"Sure, absolutely. I will do whatever I need to… wait; I am supposed to go back to America in three days… Surely Hermione isn't coming to America with me, is she?"

"No, I'm not," Hermione spoke at last. "You're goi-"

Dumbledore broke in, "I was hoping that you would be able to stay here, but we will need to talk with your parents. Like I said I have been making arrangements for you. You will be given lodging at Hogwarts, in private dorms, until your classmates arrive and then you will be sorted into whatever house you will be in for the remainder of your time at Hogwarts."

Josh looked confused, and asked for clarification on the sorting and the houses. That was all explained succinctly by Dumbledore and Hermione as they took turns talking. They continued talking about various aspects of the wizarding world and the school until there was a knock on the door. It was Josh's parents and Gregory. They had finally arrived. It had been two-and-a-half hours since Josh had left them.

"What took you so long?" Josh asked his parents. "I was expecting you to be here about an hour ago."

"We got lost," said John. "I thought that Gregory here would know the way back here, so I didn't bother to read the map, and we all just talked, then I realized how long we had been driving. I stopped to get gas, I mean 'petrol' and asked how much further it was to London. We passed our connecting road about twenty minutes before we got to where we were. Apparently Gregory had never been to London by car. He would apparate, or teleport, wherever he wanted to go. So after I got proper directions, we turned around and came here. We stopped for dinner too. Are you hungry?" And he produced a bag of food.

Josh greedily took it and started devouring its contents, not really tasting the food or even knowing what it was, he just wanted to eat. It turns out that his dad had ordered some local food… 'Bangers and Mash, whatever it is,' Josh thought, 'at least it's edible, and pretty tasty.' Thankfully Gregory had explained things to my parents pretty well in the car, and he didn't even need to do any more magic to prove it to them. They were perceptive enough that they picked up on all the magic that they had witnessed earlier. The mind-easing charms had worn off by now, and both of Josh's parents were back to normal. They were checking to make sure that Josh was okay, and he checked on them in return.

Dumbledore waited until the small family reunion was over, and then he started to talk to John and Kay. "I for one am glad that you arrived when you did. It seems that everyone is in proper working order, or at least on their way to a speedy recovery. Thank you, Gregory, for escorting the Lucas' here. The extra time you took was just enough to let us explain the wizarding world to each of our respective parties with sufficient detail." Gregory started to turn a bit red, and muttered a response. "Since we all know that Josh is a wizard," the Headmaster continued to all in the room. "I think it is about time we decided what we are going to do to help Josh get where he needs to be in order to take his proper place in the wizarding world. Obviously this takes place in school. At Hogwarts he will learn everything he will need to make it in the wizarding world. Of course he is about three years behind all of the other students his age, but we can work with that. I do believe that he will be able to catch up with the rest of his classmates with the help of Miss Granger, here." Dumbledore motioned to Hermione, and she blushed considerably, and at the same time, she looked none too pleased with her reputation.

John spoke, "I don't think that he'll have too many problems learning from anyone. My son is extremely bright, I never understood him too well. While most kids play sports for recreation, I found him leafing through an Encyclopedia just because he said that he was bored." "I was bored…" Josh said sheepishly.

"Well that should make Hermione's job a bit easier," Dumbledore continued with a twinkle in his eye.

Kay cut in, "How are we supposed to pay for all of this? Is the school's tuition expensive?" "I wouldn't worry about that. Seeing as how this is a bit of a surprise to all of us the school is willing to work with you. Josh has informed me that you will be leaving for America in three days. It is my suggestion that you leave him here so he can begin his tutoring. I already have arranged for his place to stay for the remainder of the summer. It would also be wise to sell his airplane ticket, and give him the money so he can acquire some of his school things. If he is unable to get all of his school supplies with that money, then the school will provide him with what he needs. Of course, with your permission we will allow him to work for the school to repay what he owes."

John agreed, "That sounds like a great idea. A little bit of hard work will do him good. He will be able to appreciate all of this a lot more if he has to pay for it himself."

Lyesco joined into the conversation just long enough to end it, "It's getting pretty late. I think we should get the Lucas's a room at the Leaky Cauldron, and then in the morning, Hermione and I can escort them through Diagon Alley to help Josh get his school things, and change their money at Gringotts. I will take them to the Airport on our way to the Leaky Cauldron so they can sell his ticket. Of course, the room will be provided by the Ministry free of charge, seeing as how their vacation was interrupted." This caused Kay and John to smile. While the Lucas' weren't poor, they always did enjoy getting anything for free. This also meant that they wouldn't need to spend any money at the muggle hotel they had intended to stay at for the rest of the trip.

They all decided that this was a reasonable suggestion, and agreed to meet at the Leaky Cauldron's main bar area the following morning. Dumbledore thanked them all and said he needed to go back to the school to finish preparations for the summer. Then he disapparated. Lyesco wrote a lengthy letter about how he and Hermione will be out of the office for a while. Then he asked her to take it to the hospital owls and have it delivered. Lyesco turned back to the Lucas' and said, "Are you ready? Let's go get this started. Three days is not too far off."

When they finally arrived at the Leaky Cauldron, Hermione was waiting there, and she seemed to be slightly giddier than when they had seen her last. It turns out that someone had purchased a few rounds for everyone in the bar. An extremely proud wizard's wife was pregnant with their first child. Josh offered his congratulations, and was bought his first butterbeer. Josh was very happy right now. In his pocket he had more money than he had ever had in his possession in his life. Although his dad was still upset that they were only able to get about 85 of what he had originally paid for it, the fact that they were traveling First-Class was a help and he still had a lot of money. He would probably be able to get almost all of his school supplies.

Exhaustion was starting to consume his very being. He needed to turn-in. Josh said his goodbyes and went to the room. He climbed into bed, and was falling asleep quickly. He prayed that this whole day wasn't just a really vivid dream. He would have to find out in the morning. Sleep was too inviting of a concept, and darkness enveloped him.

* * *

(A bit long, but hey. I couldn't think of anyplace that was right to stop it at. I would much appriciate any reviews, as I'm beginning to suspect I've been writing to myselves...  
:Pets the catboy personality lovingly while the other three loom over him threateningly:

BYE!)


	2. The Chaos Wand

Josh woke up early the next morning, but he kept his eyes closed. He just lay there in the bed; feeling his own presence. He could tell that the bed was not his own. The blankets had the wrong feel to them, and the mattress was much more comfortable than his. "I must still be on vacation," Josh thought to himself. "I just had a really vivid dream. I'm not a wizard, and I didn't meet a Merlin look-alike who was named Dumbledore. I'm not staying in a free room at a wizard pub called the Leaky Cauldron. And in a few hours… I'm not going to go and buy a wand… A wand!" the last internal comment snapped his eyes open. Any chances of going back to sleep were shattered as he thought of buying a wand. He looked around the room, and realized that he was indeed staying in a room at the Leaky Cauldron.

"I _am_ a wizard." Josh whispered to himself quietly so he wouldn't wake his parents. A pleasant aroma stopped the upcoming shout for joy. Bacon. What a wonderful smell to wake up to. Josh was fully awake now, and ready for a shower and breakfast. He got into his suitcase and got some fresh clothes and his toiletries. Then he crept out of the room and went down the hall to where the shower was. It felt strange to be taking a shower in a place that was separated from the room where he slept. But he tried to get over it and just deal with it. The water was absolutely wonderful. It was perfectly warm and it felt like silk caressing his entire body. Josh was feeling lost in the sensations of the perfectly sublime shower. He stayed in there for an extraordinarily long time; way past the point of where his fingers became wrinkled like prunes.

Josh was finally able to pull himself out of the shower, and he quickly got dressed as he was sure someone else must have been waiting to get in there. Once he opened the door, he saw that the hallway was still empty. Immediately, the aroma of bacon infiltrated his nostrils, and Josh remembered why he had gotten up so early. He went back to the room to put his things away and saw that his parents had already left the room. "I must've spent more time in the shower than I thought…" Josh spoke to himself. "You know, I really need to stop talking to myself. And on that note, I am going down do breakfast."

A silvery voice broke the silence. "Good idea, talking to one's self often leads to insanity."

"What the-? Who said that?" Josh called.

"Nobody," replied the voice again. "I am just the mirror."

"Just the mirror! Since when do mirrors talk?"

"It isn't all that uncommon. Where have you been?"

"Sorry, I'm what you call a muggle-born wizard. This is the first time I've ever come across a talking mirror." Josh reaches out to touch the mirror.

"Don't touch me unless you are planning to clean your fingerprints off!"

"Sorry."

"Don't worry about it. Why don't you just go and get breakfast?"

Josh goggled at the mirror, "Right, breakfast, good idea…" and slowly walked off. It was then that he realized that he was getting ready to walk into a completely different world. This new lifestyle was going to be something he'd have to get used to.

Lost in his own thoughts, Josh didn't notice when he walked right into someone.

"Watch where you're going!" yelled a rather pissed off looking blonde boy. He looked like he was about twenty years old. His long hair was parted perfectly down the center and flowed down to play at the very tops of his shoulders. His face was very smooth and colored slightly pink. The cold steel grey eyes had fire behind them. "What are you staring at!"

Josh quickly averted his eyes. "Sorry, I-I just…"

"Have a stuttering problem? Get out of my way before I hex you, you twit." And the blonde stormed off. Josh watched him for a few moments longer. The blonde man's cat-like grace, whether natural or trained, was absolutely entrancing. The fact that the man's robes were made of a clingy black material that shimmered green and silver made it even more difficult to look away.

Josh hung his head, and walked gloomily to where he saw his parents sitting down to breakfast. He helped himself to a plate, but he wasn't able to eat much. This whole wizard thing was getting very large and was severely ruining his appetite. He merely sat there picking at his plate until his mom asked why he wasn't eating.

"I had an odd dream. I guess I'm a little distracted because I can't seem to remember any of it." Josh hated to lie to his mother, but he knew that if he told her the truth about how he felt about his being a wizard, she would probably change her mind about letting him stay in England and go to the school. At this he forced himself to eat, even if it was only one slice of bacon, and a bit of dry toast.

About halfway through the meal seven different owls flew into the pub and one of them dropped a package in front of Josh. The others were flying about delivering letters and newspapers. The ones who were delivering newspapers would stop and wait for the recipient to put a few coins into the pouch that was tied to one of their legs.

"Oh good, looks like Dumbledore has gotten all of your paperwork together already." Hermione said as she walked up to the table. The Lucas' each greeted her, and then John asked where Lyesco was. Josh opened the package and started to go through everything. She replied to John, "He had to go home for a while to spend some time with his wife, tell her why he was so late getting home and such. He said he might meet up with us again later in Diagon Alley.

"Dumbledore asked me to go over all of the paperwork with you. There are several things in here-" she said as she reached for the package.

"School supply list, Hogwarts acceptance letter, Hogsmeade permission slip," Josh listed them off, interrupting Hermione's speech. She looked slightly miffed. It was either because he had interrupted her, or because someone had observation skills as good as hers.

"Right," she responded. "The acceptance letter is simply a formal welcome to the school. The supply list tells you everything that you will need as a fourth year student at Hogwarts. I will be tutoring you for the first through third year curriculum over the rest of the summer. I am willing to lend you copies of the spellbooks that you would have gotten if you had started four years ago. You will need to get your own copies eventually."

"That's fair. We can find all of this stuff at Diagon Alley?" Josh replied.

"Absolutely," said Hermione. "Now, our first stop will be at Gringotts, so we can change your money to ours. After that we can go to the other various shops and get your school stuff. I think the next stop should be at Olivander's so we can get your wand. Your wand is the most important piece of magical equipment that you will use."

"Why do I need a wand? I just froze a river completely by accident; I didn't have a wand then."

"Okay, freeze this glass of water then."

Josh stuck out his hands and absolutely nothing happened, except for a slight breeze Hermione reported.

"While we ourselves are magical, it is hard to control that magic by itself. I'm not saying that you won't be able to do wandless magic, but it takes training. That is why we use wands. A wand becomes an extension of the wizard; a catalyst of sorts. For the magic to be controlled properly the wand is used. But a wand is more than a tool; a wand is a very important friend to a wizard, and a reflection of that wizard too. There are two major parts to a wand: the core and the body. There are three major core materials: phoenix tail feathers, unicorn tail hairs, and dragon heartstrings. Each material has different qualities and certain areas of 'expertise.' The same thing goes for the wood used for making the shaft."

"Which ones are the best?"

"I don't think that that will matter really, you don't choose your wand, your wand will choose you."

"What do mean?"

"Well, only one wand will be able to work for you. Anything else will just cause destruction in your hands until you get some more training. Even after you learn how to use spells, you will not be able to use someone else's wand and still get as good results as you would with your own. But enough explaining, let's finish breakfast and then get this day started. Tuck in now, you'll need some energy for the day."

Josh was able to find his appetite after this conversation and helped himself to a few of the blueberry pancakes, some eggs, and bacon. Josh's parents were even more amazed than he was when they witnessed the brick wall rearrange itself to grant them passage to Diagon Alley. Once Josh stepped through the archway and into the wizarding world, he felt a sense of fullness and satisfaction that he had never known in all his life living in the American Muggle world. The shops within were absolutely amazing. The shops had signs out front on the street which were constantly changing, advertising different wares they had to offer.

When they arrived at Gringotts, Hermione warned then to keep their heads level and their minds open, because she was aware that they hadn't ever come across goblins before, and wanted to make sure nobody was surprised or insulted. Everything went smoothly, except for a small scene where John lost his temper because the goblins wanted to charge him a 17 conversion fee, but was eventually able to talk him down to 4.5.

With a pouch full of gold, they were all ready to start doing some serious shopping. Their mood was enhanced even more once they stepped outside and were warmed by the sunlight. They took their time getting to Olivander's; they were looking into shop windows, and at all of the people, who seemed generally to be in good dispositions.

Mr. Olivander was rather excited when they arrived, and conjured some tea for all of them while his tape measure was dancing around Josh's body. Mr. Olivander produced wand after wand, and two hours had passed before Josh found his wand. Mr. Olivander was down a corridor gathering a few more wands for Josh to try, and Josh yawned and stretched. One arm was extended in Mr. Olivander's general direction, and he heard a wand vibrating in its box. He dropped all of the other wands and stared. The wand was behind a glass window, there were only six wands in that case at all. They were the wands that had to be quarantined due to the fact that they were extremely powerful, and quite possibly even more dangerous. They were inherently chaotic and didn't like being too near other wands. Mr. Olivander did not create these wands to be like that; honestly it was just a fluke. He didn't even realize what had been going on when he would come in the shop each morning, and find all the wands that were on the shelf scattered across the floor, and the chaos wand the only one lying on the shelf. Eventually he created the glass case just for such wands.

Not one of the chaos wands had aver been sold, and Mr. Olivander didn't like to even bring them up, he felt like he made a mistake each time one of them were created. This had certainly never happened. He had never seen a wand called to a wizard like this before. The old wand-maker pulled out his own, and removed several enchantments that he had placed on the case. He lightly grasped the sleek ebony and silver box and slid it out of the case. Immediately, Olivander replaced the enchantments. Staring at the box he returned to the others, walking in a trance.

"Mr. Olivander?" queried Hermione. "Are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost…"

The old man raised his eyes, and a cold chill ran down everyone's spines. "What?" immediately his demeanor changed back to the energetic personality he had before. "No, I'm fine. I was just lost in thought for a moment. Well I believe I have found the wand!" he then proceeded to tell them how and what he noticed. But he did omit the more negative side of this particular wand. "Ebony, fifteen inches, Phoenix feather"

Josh opened the box and was immediately entranced by the sheer beauty and elegance of the wand. When he picked up the wand, he really wasn't sure if he had actually picked it up, or if it had jumped into his hand. When he waved the wand it looked like he had torn a hole into space; which quickly sealed itself.

Mr. Olivander placed an unbreakable charm on the wand's case and handed it over to Josh and had given him all the warnings of not letting it get too close to other wands and such. Basically Josh just needed to keep the wand in its case overnight. Josh was only charged for the material components for the wand, so he had a bit more money he could spend.

Next they went to Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, so he could be fitted for his robes. After that they were coaxed over to Florean Fortescue's for some Ice cream by a familiar face.

"Lyesco!" John called out. It turned out that the reason that John took such a liking to Lyesco was that they were distant cousins, but they don't find this out for a while. But for now they do get into a rather long conversation about various things that happen in the wizarding world.

Things went well for the rest of the day. They picked up his school robes just before the shop closed, and in the mean time they acquired the rest of his school supplies, and a few extras. John got himself a rather handsome set of quills, a few bottles of ink, and several pieces of parchment, so that he and Kay would be able to correspond with Josh. Kay bought an intricately detailed mirror. Completely non-magical, but very ornate.

Life was pleasant and intriguing in Diagon Alley for the rest of the Lucas' vacation time together, it was a tough and, on Kay's part, tearful goodbye, and Hermione and Josh took a portkey from the Leaky Cauldron to Hogsmeade. Lyesco took John and Kay to the airport for their flight back to the United States. Soon Josh will get the first glimpse of his home for the next few years.


End file.
